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HP boosts Vertica big data tool with Dragline update

Text sentiment and improved efficiency of data analysis touted by company

HP has announced a key update for its Vertica big data analytics tool called Dragline that makes it easier for users to assess text and location data and boosts the speed and performance of queries.

HP said the Dragline update enhances the speed and performance of queries on data sets by assigning the relevant amount of resource to individual requests.

This allows multiple questions to be asked, such as ad hoc queries of a partial set while a longer, more detailed data query is running at the same time, without slowing the system down.

The Dragline update also now supports more data formats that firms may be using including Parquet, Thrift, Avro and CEF so that more data can be ingested into Vertica for analysis.

Sentiment capabilities for short text such as messages on Twitter and online review sites, as well as improved location awareness capabilities, have also been announced.

HP said this could help firms gain insights into an online community's reaction to a product or promotion within a given area, for example, so the firm can amend or react accordingly.

HP said that using Dragline could also have benefits for utility companies or telecoms firms by providing more insights on customer data patterns, to help educate people on how to reduce bills or provide personalised billing services.

Colin Mahony, vice president and general manager for Vertica at HP, said the new updates were a key step in HP's ongoing at strategy to meet the data analytic needs of customers.

"HP Vertica Dragline lets organisations store data in a cost-optimised manner, exploring it quickly and effectively using well known SQL-based tools, and, most importantly, providing the customer insights and operational advantages to everyone with blazing-fast speed, accuracy and security," he added.

HP Vertica Dragline will be generally available worldwide in August 2014.